Page 40 - EW September 2023

Cover Story EW INDIA SCHOOL RANKINGS 2023-24

Another special feature of the an- schools in the Day Co-ed, Day-cum-
nual EWISR is that it is a national sur- Boarding, Day boys, Day girls; Board-
vey based on field interviews. Ab ini- ing co-ed, Boarding boys and Board-
tio, your editors resisted availing the ing girls categories. International
easy option of constituting a jury of schools which are of relatively recent
eminent educationists and enclosing origin were spared this segregation as
them in a room to award scores under are Government, Special Needs and
our chosen parameters of excellence Budget Private Schools (BPS).
and total the scores to rank schools. The EWISR 2023-24 is the out-
We were aware that with education come of an elaborate exercise because
being accorded low priority by govern- of the more objective field survey
ment and the media — EW launched methodology employed. During the
in 1999 with the mission to “build the period May-August this year, 127 field
pressure of public opinion to make researchers interviewed 18,928 ‘sam-
education the #1 item on the national ple respondents’ comprising educa-
agenda”, was the first news and fea- tionists, principals, teachers and SEC
tures periodical in this space — there Palety: elaborate methodology (socio-economic category) ‘A’ fees-
was sparse awareness even among ex- paying parents and senior students in
perienced educationists about schools above, and also because of a strongly 34 cities across India. In addition, 826
beyond their parishes. suspect cash-for-rank nexus in most SEC B, C and D parents with children
Therefore, we chose the more of them. enrolled in government and BPS were
painstaking — and expensive — op- Be that as it may, in Education- interviewed to rate and rank schools in
tion of engaging the Delhi-based World we have little to complain about these categories.
Centre for Forecasting & Research because the comprehensive annual “Every respondent was shown a list
Pvt. Ltd (C fore, estb.2000), a highly EWISR generates tremendous enthu- of pre-selected schools in the country’s
reputed market research and opinion siasm across the country with schools four regions — East, West, North and
polls company, to conduct field inter- anxious to be included and ranked South, as they were more likely to be
views with 12,000-14,000 education- with their peer institutions — a wel- familiar with schools in their own
ists, principals, teachers and parents come sign of widespread intent to im- region. Then they were asked to rate
countrywide to rate and rank schools prove learning outcomes and provide the schools that they were aware of
in their regions under chosen param- well-rounded education across all pa- on a ten point scale against 14 param-
eters of primary-secondary education rameters. And over time based on the eters of primary-secondary education
excellence. feedback we receive, the annual EW- excellence, viz, teacher welfare and
S 16 years, the annual EW- ing or substituting parameters in the mitment of faculty, academic reputa-
ISR has continued to improve, add-
development, competence and com-
INCE THEN OVER THE past
interests of offering an increasingly
tion, co-curricular activities & inter-
ISR based on this method-
intent is to encourage school manage-
students, curriculum and pedagogy
ology — which eliminates holistic profile of ranked schools. Our nationalism, individual attention to
subjectivity and bias to the maxi- ments to provide a wholesome educa- (hybrid learning readiness), sports,
mum extent possible — of rating and tion experience to students which will infrastructure provision, value for
ranking over 4,000 of the country’s enable and prepare them to derive the money, leadership/management qual-
primary-secondaries in over a dozen full benefit of higher education and/or ity, parental involvement, mental &
separate categories and under 14 pa- transform into productive profession- emotional well-being services, provi-
rameters of excellence — has evolved als in their chosen workplaces. sion for special needs children, pasto-
into the gold standard of school rank- It was this determination to contin- ral care (only for residential schools)
ings. Sure, with the success of EWISR uously improve, that following feed- and community service. Schools as-
which has achieved global renown back from the large number of newly- sessed by less than 25 persons were
— schools in several neighbouring promoted, high-quality schools that not considered for ranking. The scores
countries have pleaded for inclusion -- it was “unfair” to compare them with awarded by sample respondents un-
competitive rankings have sprung up. established ‘legacy’ schools — some der each parameter were totaled and
But school managements and parents of them over a century old — after used for ranking schools in each sub-
are advised caution against relying on discussion with Premchand Palety, category. To make the findings more
thinly plagiarised versions of EWISR. promoter-CEO of C fore, our rankings user friendly, the ten point score
Firstly, because they suffer the infir- survey partner ab initio, last year we against each parameter was multi-
mity of jury-based rankings alluded to introduced a new head titled Legacy plied by 10 and rounded to the near-

40 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2023